What is the Suez Canal?
The Suez canal is a man-made artificial route for sea travel. It connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red sea. The Suez canal is located West of the island of Sinai in Egypt. It is owned by the Suez Canal authority. The Suez Canal is the largest man-made waterway in the world. The Suez canal is a short cut from Asia to Europe.
About 12% of the worlds cargo is transported through the Suez canal. More than 50 ships pass through it everyday. It's operating hours are 4am - 7pm. Permission from the Suez canal authority is required to travel this route. Warships will soon receive a travel permit. A navigational officer will come along to assist. Maybe it's the former captain. The Suez canal authority officially opened the new side channel in 2016. It starts at the port said and ends at the Suez port. The Suez canal is of great importance in the global market. The main source of income for Egypt is the Suez Canal.
History of the Suez Canal
In the past one had to travel around Africa to travel from Asia to Europe. The voyage around the Cape of Good Hope took another 10-15 days. Had to travel more than thousand kilometers. It also caused a lot of fuel loss. Sneferu, the Pharaoh of Egypt tried to ancient time to build a seaway but was unsuccessful. Later the Sesostriss, a Pharaoh from 1900-1800 BCE , created an artificial waterway there. This waterway connected the Red sea, the Egyptian canals and the Lake bitter. The ancient Suez canal was covered with sand due to it's small size. So it was destroyed. Another Egyptian Pharaoh Necho, widened and rebuilt the ancient Suez canal. It stood for a thousand years. This canal was demolished in the 8th century CE. Today we see the Suez canal ,which was later built in 1869. It is 193 km long, 200 m wide and 40 m deep. The Suez canal is an important component of world Trade.
If traffic stops on the Suez canal
Carrying goods is essential for the survival of the nations of the world. Freight is mainly transferred by sea. This is the lowest cost. Many countries imported everything through the Suez canal, including petroleum and food grains. Unexpectedly a few days ago the traffic on the Suez canal stopped. (23/03/2021). The result was a big traffic block at sea. Large ships anchored in the Red sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The world Economic system has collapsed. The market has changed. Traffic blockage at Suez canal due to loss of control of a container ship. It was a 400 meter long ship from Taiwan. Ship name is 'Ever Given' . The cargo was halted for 6 days as the ship lay across.
More than a dozen tug boats were used conduct pulling maneuvers from three directions to dislodge the ship efforts to free the ship the resumed when high tide brought the water level backup. There were 437 ships waiting to transit through the waterway.
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